The Mysterious Package
by Ponchygirl
Summary: While on a vacation, Ponch and Marco are handed a strange package, and given special instructions. Before they have a chance to hand it back, the guy disappears.
1. Chapter 1

Frank Poncherello and Marco Lopez sat in a booth at Taco Bell. It was quiet there today. They were basically the only ones there. Besides the workers anyway. Ponch was done eating already, Marco was close to done, but not quite finished yet.

"I hear from Jon you're leaving soon," Marco said.

"Yeah, I was gonna take a trip to New York to visit my sister. I called her, and found out she isn't there right now. She's actually getting ready to go to Mexico. Its nice when siblings tell you these things. I don't know what else to do for vacation now. My parents are somewhere in Europe. My brothers, are too busy to hang out. They said I could come over, but we probably won't see each other, so what's the point? Anyway, I decided that I'd still go somewhere," Ponch replied with a sigh. He wanted to go somewhere, but wasn't sure where.

"How about Iowa? I'm going there to visit an old friend. You can come along with me," Marco said. Ponch's eyes got wide, and a huge smile came across his face.

"Are you serious? That sounds amazing! The best part is, I won't be lonely," Ponch replied. He and Marco had been close friends for so many years now that they couldn't remember how long. It seemed like forever. Marco smiled, he loved his young Puerto Rican friends enthusiasm.

"Ok, so I am leaving tomorrow. I'll be gone for a few weeks. Do you think that'll be ok?" He asked.

"I'm sure that will be ok. I've got a few weeks off anyway," Ponch said excitedly. Marco smiled,

"Then I guess you're coming with me," he said.

"Sounds great! What's the weather like there?" Ponch asked, with a curious look on his face.

"Don't know yet, maybe it's the same as it is here," Marco replied.

"Actually, the weather in Iowa is unpredictable most would say. They do have four seasons, and you never know what the weather will be like. That is, until it happens," one of the workers said cutting into the conversation. "Sorry for cutting in," he said.

"No, you're fine," Marco replied. Ponch didn't say anything to him. As soon as he heard about the weather, his eyes were wide with excitement.

"Cool that means, I can pack pretty much anything," Ponch said. Marco smiled.

"I'll see ya tomorrow. I'm gonna go start packing," Marco said.

"I should probably do that too," Ponch replied with a grin. Ponch looked over at the Taco Bell worker that had talked to them. "Thanks for the info about the weather," he said.

"No prob! I'm always willing to help out the kind people that eat here," the man replied, while flipping his hair back and forth trying to get it out of his eyes. He had shoulder length hair, and long bangs. He looked like a rock star. Ponch and Marco smiled. Then Marco continued to try to finish his food. Ponch was so excited about leaving the state to go somewhere new, that he didn't say anything to Marco, except a bunch of random things about what he was thinking about bringing.

 _Meanwhile…._

Marco and Ponch both left Taco Bell, in a hurry. Both were excited about this trip. The thing that excited them most was going to a strange new place, with someone they knew with them. So they didn't feel completely lost.

"Iowa, sounds like a fun place," Ponch told himself as he got in the car.

 _Meanwhile…_

Marco got in his car, thinking the same thing.

"Iowa sounds fun, and I bet Ponch is gonna love it. I think it'll be more fun with him along," Marco told himself. He started his car, and drove off towards home.

 _Meanwhile…._

Marco had all of his things packed, and was all ready to go. He decided to give Ponch a call, and see how his packing was going. He knew from experience that Ponch took a long time to pack. He was never sure what he should or shouldn't bring. He called Ponch, soon someone answered.

"Hello, this is Jon Baker speaking."

"Jon, is Ponch available?" Marco asked.

"Sure he is, he's under a huge pile of clothes though," Jon said. Marco laughed a little.

"What?" he asked.

"Well, we are trying to pack. He asked me to help him. He had so much stuff out, and I had to get to the phone, I picked it all up, and tossed it aside. He's buried, don't worry he isn't bringing all of that. He was doing laundry at the moment, and packing," Jon said. Marco could picture it all in his mind. It was funny to think about.

"Ok, I'd like to talk to him if you don't mind," Marco finally said after he finished laughing.

"Just a second," Jon replied. Soon the phone was handed to Ponch. Marco could tell, because he heard Ponch make a weird comment to Jon. It was normal for that.

"Hi, Marco," Ponch said.

"Hi, so are you almost done with your packing? I was wondering if you wanted to do something tonight with Jon before we leave tomorrow."

"I'll be packing for a while. I've got a lot to do around the place before I'm done. You're welcome to come over though," Ponch replied.

"That's ok, I am all out of energy for packing. I'll see ya tomorrow. We're meeting at your place right?"

"Yep, and Jon agreed to take us to the airport," Ponch replied.

"Cool, so I'll see ya then. Oh, is Jon meeting us at your place too?" Marco asked.

"No, he's staying over tonight," Ponch replied.

"Oh nice, by the way, I called my friend in Iowa. He said that he's more than willing to let us stay it his house while we are there."

"Sounds great, I can't wait," Ponch said.


	2. Chapter 2

Jon dropped Ponch and Marco off at the air port. They said a quick good bye, but Jon wished he was coming along. He kept telling Ponch over and over again that he needed to stay safe, and be careful. Ponch each time said ok, but he was starting to wonder if he shouldn't leave. Jon was acting funny. He finally decided to leave anyway, he was too excited to stay home. Marco really wanted Ponch to come.

"Are you ready?" Marco asked.

"Yeah," Ponch replied, he kept looking back though, Jon was standing right there watching them leave. Ponch felt bad, it was so short notice. He told Jon he wouldn't be leaving, and then all the sudden he was. Jon was watching them about to leave. Ponch couldn't stand it anymore. He ran back over to Jon, and hugged him tightly.

"Jon, I'm sorry for leaving so quickly. I feel terrible about it," Ponch said.

"No problem, Ponch. I knew you'd be going on a vacation. Have fun, but not too much fun. I want you to come home."

"I can't stay away from California for too long, partner," Ponch said with a smile.

"Ok, well have fun, and you should get going." Jon said.

"Ok, bye Jon," Ponch said. He rushed off to get on the plane with Marco.

 _Meanwhile….._

When Marco and Ponch arrived in Iowa, they were greeted by Marco's friend Michael. They were in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Michael lived in Marion. He came to pick them up, and take them to his place.

"Hi, Marco, I haven't seen you in ages," Michael said.

"It hasn't been that long has it?" Marco asked with a smile. Michael smiled, he hugged Marco. He turned to look at Ponch,

"You must be Ponch. Marco has told me so much about you. In fact, he talks about you so much it is almost as if you and I are friends too," Michael said. Ponch smiled. Michael, Marco, and Ponch all walked out to the car after they got their luggage. Michael helped put their stuff in the trunk, then got into the car. It was a nice day, the sun was shining, it looked like it had rained earlier.

"Did it rain?" Marco asked.

"Yeah, it rained all night last night. I think that was nice, I didn't have to go out in the rain. It has rained a lot lately. Hopefully it won't rain while you are here," Michael said.

"No, I want it to rain. We almost never get rain out in California, and when we do it is on a day where we have to work. We never get to enjoy it at all," Ponch said. Michael smiled,

"Well, lucky for you I checked the weather forecast and it looks like we may be getting rain sometime today. I'll show you around more tomorrow. Today can just be a day for you to relax a bit, and get used to the time difference. Also, you can get to know my family. I have two kids now," Michael told Marco and Ponch.

"Two kids? How old are they?" Marco asked.

"Well, Heather is five, and Kendall is sixteen. We adopted them a while ago. They are sisters," Michael said.

"Cool, I can't wait to meet them," Ponch said with a smile. Michael was happy, Ponch seemed even better than what Marco had ever described to him. Soon they pulled up to a house, and were greeted by three girls. Michael's wife, and two daughters.

"Hi honey," Michael said greeting his wife. She was a tall, thin red head. Heather was a short dark haired girl, and Kendall was short, with long dark hair that had blonde highlights. Heather and Kendall you could tell were related, but they didn't look much like their mom at all. Of which made sense since they were both adopted. Michael was short, and looked a lot like Marco. He was Hispanic, and he wore glasses.

"Marco, this is Kendall, and Heather. Kendall and Heather, this is Marco Lopez," Michael said.

"Hi," they said to each other.

"Ponch, this is Kendall and Heather. Kendall and Heather this is Frank Poncherello." They also said hi to each other.

"Jenny, this is Ponch. Ponch this is my wife Jenny," Michael said.

"Hi, Jenny, nice to meet you," Ponch said.

"Nice to meet you too," Jenny said to Ponch. Michael took them inside the house, and showed them to their rooms.


	3. Chapter 3

The next day Ponch and Marco went with Kendall and Heather to the Lindale Mall. Ponch and Marco weren't sure if they wanted to buy anything at all or what. Ponch sent a text to Jon, and asked him if he wanted Ponch to bring him home anything from Iowa. Jon responded by saying the only thing he wanted from Iowa, was his best friend. Ponch smiled, and told him he'd be home in a few weeks. Jon didn't respond, Ponch hoped Jon wasn't mad at him. He didn't see why Jon would be, but Ponch had an overactive imagination, and always thought that Jon was mad at him if he didn't respond right away. Sometimes he could tell why Jon didn't respond. Like how do you respond to a smiley face? Besides sending another one, but Jon didn't like using smiley faces at all. Ponch didn't understand how Jon couldn't love the smiley faces.

"Marco, Jon doesn't want anything, he just wants me to come home. He is so weird, I don't understand what his problem is. It's almost as if I can't be gone for too long without him missing me," Ponch said.

"It's just because, you're his best friend, and you have been injured and hurt so many times that he is afraid something will happen to you while you are away. And he won't be there to save you," Marco said. Kendall smiled listening to the conversation.

"I wish my best friend was like that," she said. Ponch smiled,

"Believe me, if your best friend was like Jon, there's no need for a mother," Ponch joked. "I still want to keep me mom though, don't take that wrong," Ponch added quickly. Kendall laughed.

"I got it," she said. Heather was getting bored, soon they reached the play area, so they let her go play with the other kids. While Kendall went to go to Maurice's, Ponch and Marco sat down on a bench and watched Heather play.

"This is fun," Marco said.

"Yeah, just wait till we go see the Coral Ridge Mall. Kendall says it is better than here. She said it has in an indoor Carousel, and indoor Ice Skating rink, and a children's museum. It sounds amazing."

"Why are we just visiting malls?" Marco asked.

"I don't know, but its fun. We are also gonna go to Adventure Land, and Bee Bops," Ponch said with a smile.

"You must have had a long conversation with Kendall about all the fun places," Marco said.

"Yeah," Ponch replied with a huge smile.

"We're also going to the Blank Park Zoo!" he exclaimed excitedly.

"Ok, that's nice," Marco said. Ponch smiled at Marco.

 _Meanwhile….._

Ponch and Marco, had been to the zoo, and a bunch of the other places they had wanted to go to. But they still hadn't gone to the Coral Ridge Mall.

"Hey guys, I can't come. I have to work," Michael said sadly. Ponch and Marco seemed slightly disappointed.

"We can wait for you to get off work," Ponch suggested.

"I'd love to do that, but I have a twenty four hour shift today," Michael replied.

"Oh, that's no fun. I guess we will just have to go again," Marco said. Michael smiled,

"Have fun," he said, then walked out the door. Jenny came over to them,

"Do you wanna eat lunch before you go?" She asked.

"Sure! Thanks, Jenny," Ponch replied. He and Marco sat at the table and began to eat lunch. It was macaroni and cheese. Kendall and Heather were at school. They were home schooled, but they had some classes that they went to at the Home School building.

"Ok, we'll see you later Jenny," Ponch said.

"Bye, have fun," Jenny said watching them leave.


	4. Chapter 4

Ponch and Marco arrived at the Coral Ridge Mall, in Coralville. Ponch was excited, as they walked through the door, he noticed the carousel. His eyes got wide,

"MARCO LOOK!" he exclaimed. "There really is an indoor carousel," he added. He took a picture of it, and sent it to Jon. Marco rolled his eyes. Sometimes his friend was a bit odd.

"Have you never seen one before?" He asked.

"I've seen carousels before," Ponch replied. He walked up to the carousel, "We can ride it now," Ponch said with a smile. Marco smiled back, they paid a few dollars, and they rode the carousel a few times. After they finished with that, they walked across the food court to get to the Ice Skating Rink.

"I've never done this before," Ponch admitted.

"I'm sure you'll do fine. I did it with Michael a few years ago. It wasn't here though," Marco said. Ponch smiled, he and Marco went over, and rented some skates. When they got on the ice, Ponch fell almost instantly. Marco laughed, Ponch looked up at Marco, and made a face at him. Marco smiled.

"Let me help you up," he said holding out his hand. Ponch grabbed Marco's hand, and pulled Marco to the ground. Then began to laugh really hard, Marco looked at Ponch, and playfully pushed him.

"You know, you are really something else," Marco said. He got up, and then offered to help Ponch up again, but Ponch didn't seem to want to get up.

"Ponch?" Marco asked. Finally, Ponch got up.

"Sorry, I was just lost in thought. Do they let you into the children's museum if you are not a kid?" Ponch asked.

"They let anyone in," Marco replied.

"Cool beans, we should go there."

"Don't you wanna walk around the mall a little bit before then? We haven't even checked out any of the stores," Marco said.

"Oh, you're right," Ponch said. He smiled at Marco. "Do you wanna go to the play area where all the kids are? I here they love to play with young adults that are playful," Ponch said. Marco smiled,

"You are too much of a kid," Marco said. Ponch smiled at Marco, then he once again fell on the ice. He began to laugh really hard. Marco rolled his eyes, and helped Ponch up.

 _Meanwhile….._

Ponch and Marco went to the play area, and Ponch was right. As soon as they took off their shoes, a little girl ran up to Ponch, and dragged him over to play with her. Marco watched for a while, not sure if he wanted to play, but then a little boy came up to him.

"Can you pway wif me?" he asked. Marco smiled.

"Of course," he said. He followed the little boy over to the area he wanted to play at, and played with him. They played with the kids for hours. They were playing the game, "House" where there is a mommy, and a daddy, and they take care of the kids. The little girl (Brittney) volunteered to be the mommy, and she made sure that the little boy (David) she had a crush on was the daddy. Marco was the mailman, because that was what they kept telling him to be. There were a few other kids, that were playing along, they were teenagers in the game. And the little girl, and the little boy both decided, that Ponch had to be the youngest kid in their family. He had to stay home from school all the time, because his "mommy" didn't think he was old enough for school yet. Ponch was having too much fun with this. He knew the perfect way to act like a little kid. His "mommy" taught him how to do it.

"Ponch, eat your veggies, or you don't get dessert," Ponch made a face,

"Mommy, I not want my veggies."

"Then you don't get dessert. Go to your room," Ponch made a sad face, and looked like he was gonna cry.

"I don't wanna go to my room," he said. Brittney got up in Ponch's face.

"Go to your room, or I'll tell daddy," she said. She seemed to be really good at doing a grown up voice. Ponch looked at her, with a scared expression on his face.

"Ok, I'll go to my room," he said. Marco laughed watching that. He didn't have to do much, so he always watched the 'family' Ponch went to another area of the play area, that he was told was his room. He just sat on the bench/couch type thing that surrounded the play area. Brittney, and David had a short talk with each other, and then all the other kids started coming home from school.

"Hi Mommy," they said each greeting their mother.

"Where's Ponch?" asked one little girl, with a slight giggle. She had been watching the scene that happened before she showed up.

"In his room. He don't eat veggies," David said. Marco laughed, he loved watching this so much. Soon it was time for him to show up and give them mail. He walked over happily,

"Hello, it's time for your mail," he said. Brittney smiled,

"Thanks, Mr. Mailman," she said. She was about to go on with the game, but then her mom called her over. She ran over. "Yes, mommy?"

"Its time to go," she said. Brittney looked back at all of her new friends.

"Do we have too?" she asked.

"Yeah," Her mom replied.

"Where are we going?"

"The Children's Museum," her mom replied. Brittney went and said good bye to everyone. When she went to Ponch, saying good bye was too hard for her. She hugged him tightly, then grabbed his hand.

"Come on, Ponch. It's time for you to go on a field trip," she said.

"I thought you had to go," Ponch said.

"I'm taking you with me," she said. Marco thought this was cute. Brittney took Ponch over to the shoes, she put hers on, and then put his on for him. Marco put his shoes on too.

"Mommy, can we take Ponch with us?" she asked. Brittney's mom smiled.

"I don't know, does Ponch want to come with us?" Her mom asked. Brittney looked at Ponch.

"If you don't I'll send you to your room," she said. Ponch smiled,

"I actually did wanna go to the Children's Museum," he said.

"Good, let's go!" Brittney said. She dragged Ponch along with her to the Children's Museum.


	5. Chapter 5

After the Children's Museum Brittney and her mom had to leave. Ponch and Marco were gonna leave too, but they were stopped by this man in a brown trench coat.

"Hi, we have to go. Could you please move?" Ponch said with a sweet smile. He and Marco tried to step around the guy, but he just got in front of them.

"I need you to take care of this package," he said. He held out a package to them.

"Ha, there ain't no way I am taking care of that. It says fragile on the front," Ponch said. Marco rolled his eyes, as did the other guy.

"Take it anyway. It really isn't fragile it just got put in the fragile box," the man said.

"Ok," Ponch replied. He reached out to grab it. Marco slapped Ponch's hand.

"Don't take it yet. We don't know what it is," Marco said.

"You won't find out what it is until seven P.M. on Saturday this week."

"But it is Monday. That is a long time to wait," Ponch said.

"Take it anyway. You need to keep it until Saturday, then take it to the Cedar Rapids downtown library. Go up on the roof. Set the box on the picnic table farthest from the door. Once it is place there, you will find out what happens," the man said.

"What's to stop us from doing it before Saturday?" Ponch asked.

"You're gonna be sick until then."

"How do you know? We are pretty healthy right now," Marco said. Ponch raised an eyebrow in confusion. Then suddenly he started to feel like he was gonna throw up.

"Not you, just your friend. The family you are staying with are gonna be out of town for the week. You have to stay home and take care of your friend. If you even leave the house once, before Saturday your friend might die, " he told Marco.

"What? This isn't fair. How'd I get sick?" Ponch asked not liking this a bit.

"Once you have the package, my work is done. I don't need to tell you how you got sick. That is for only me to know, until Saturday. You will find out then," the man said. Marco was now holding the package. "Take good care of your friend," the man said then began to walk away.

"Hey, you can't just do this to us. Please take back your package. We don't want it," Marco said. The guy was gone though. Marco turned and looked at Ponch. Ponch was starting to look really pale, and very sick.

"This doesn't look good. Ponch, are you ok?" Marco asked. Ponch just slightly nodded his head.

"Don't worry, Ponch, I'm gonna take you home," Marco said. Ponch followed Marco out to the car. As they got there, Ponch was starting to feel worse, he passed out in the parking lot. Marco reached the car, and set the package in the passenger's seat, then noticed Ponch wasn't right behind him. He looked around,

"Ponch?" he asked. Then he saw him, not too far away, laying on the ground motionless. Marco rushed over to Ponch. He shook him a bit. "Ponch? Ponch can you hear me?" Marco asked. Ponch didn't respond. Marco picked Ponch up, and carried him to the car. He put Ponch in the back seat.

"Don't worry, Ponch I'll get you home," Marco said. He got into the car, and drove off.

 _Meanwhile….._

Marco set the package on top of Ponch, and then carried Ponch into the house.

"Hello! Anybody home!?" he called. No answer, he found a small note on the counter. He went and set Ponch down in bed, and covered him up then went to see what the note was. He set the package on the counter.

" _Dear Marco, and Ponch,_

 _Sorry we had to take an emergency trip out to Minnesota to see Jenny's dad. He is in the hospital right now. Don't know when we will be back, but if you leave before we return, just leave a note. It's been fun seeing you._

 _Best wishes_

 _Michael."_

"How in the world did that guy know?" Marco asked aloud. He went to go check on Ponch again. Ponch was looking worse. He was burning up. Marco got a cold wet towel, and put it on Ponch's forehead.

"Hopefully this will help bring your temperature down a bit," he said. He went to the living room to watch some TV. As he sat there, this voice in his head kept bothering him saying, "You need to stay with Ponch," Marco began to get bothered by it, so he went into Ponch's room, and found him looking worse than before. He wasn't even breathing.

"No, you can't just get sick randomly and die on me in the same day, Ponch," Marco said. He began CPR, within seconds, Ponch was breathing again. But that didn't change the fact that he had gotten worse. He had a very high fever, and was still unconscious. He looked so pale of which was weird for Marco, since Ponch was always super tan. Marco wished that they never had come to Iowa. If they hadn't, they wouldn't be in this mess right now. Marco then realized he should probably tell Jon what was going on. So he pulled out his cell phone and texted Jon. He told him about how Ponch was, and the package. Jon sent a text back to Marco, and told him to get outta there. Marco refused to do it. Jon didn't understand why Marco didn't just take Ponch to a hospital or something. Marco knew that if he did, things would only get worse. If only they could've avoided that man at the mall.


	6. Chapter 6

The next few minutes seemed like hours. And the hours felt like days. Marco was worried about Ponch, and he was getting bored. He had been sitting there in the room with a lap top watching YouTube. Videos about cats, and videos about dogs. Just a bunch of animal videos that his girlfriend told him were funny. He thought they were dumb. Then he came across this video about a spider in someone's bedroom. It was interesting, but sadly the video came to an end. The bad thing about that though, was now he got sucked into watching a video about a little kid that forces a baby to bite him, then starts whining about it. He didn't understand why anyone would like this video. It had over fourteen million views. Marco yawned. He decided to just watch TV instead of YouTube. He found out that every channel was playing either a super cheesy movie, the news, or a terrible super gross show.

"I guess I'll just have to read," he told himself. He shut the TV off, and grabbed out a book. He was reading for a while, and starting to get tired. He fell asleep.

 _Meanwhile….._

When Marco woke up, he saw Ponch's big brown eyes staring at him. Ponch was awake. Marco smiled,

"Hi, how do you feel?"

"O-O-Ok," Ponch replied, tiredly.

"Can I get you anything?" Marco asked.

"A ticket for the next plane back home," Ponch said then rolled over. "I wanna go back and see, Jon," he added, his eyes closing slowly again. Ponch pulled the blanket up a little more.

"Its cold in here," he said.

"It actually is pretty warm in here," Marco replied. Ponch didn't argue with him. He stayed silent.

"Are you hungry?" Marco asked.

"No, I feel like I'd throw up if I ate anything," Ponch replied. He sounded somewhat miserable now.

"You are not feeling well at all are you?" Marco asked. Ponch didn't respond to that. Marco kind of understood why. He knew that when Ponch was sick he hated to admit how bad it was. Marco felt the same way at times. He just wished that Ponch was a little more open to sharing that sometimes. It would've been nice to know how serious this really was.

"Well, I am really hungry," Marco said. Ponch didn't respond to him.

"Hey, you still awake?" Marco asked. He got a little closer. He could see Ponch's eyes were open, but barely. They kept closing, Marco knew Ponch was slowly falling asleep, but trying to fight it.

"Hey, just go to sleep Ponch. You'll feel better if you do," Marco said. Ponch rolled his eyes. Marco laughed.

 _Meanwhile…_

Saturday finally came, and Marco couldn't have been more happy. Ponch was feeling better, but not well enough to go anywhere yet. Marco knew Ponch had to come with him to the library. So he was hoping Ponch would be well enough for that when the time came.

"Hey, how do you feel today?" Marco asked.

"Fine," Ponch replied. He sounded a little grumpy. He hadn't liked being in bed all day since Monday. He couldn't wait to get some fresh air. Marco slightly smiled.

"Do you think you'll be feeling well enough to leave today?" he asked.

"Are you kidding? Even if I'm not well enough I'm going. I gotta get outta here," Ponch said. Marco smiled again.

"Ok, I hope you feel well enough to come then," he replied. He stayed in the room, and began reading a book.

 _Meanwhile…._

Around six thirty Marco was leaving the house. Ponch was right behind him, But Ponch wasn't feeling that great. He just wanted to leave. Ponch and Marco got to the library, just in time to make it to the roof before seven. They rushed to the picnic table they were supposed to be at.

"I think I'm gonna throw up," Ponch said.

"Don't do it on the table. Go over there," Marco said pointing towards a railing around the edge of the roof. Ponch went and leaned on the railing, and threw up off the roof. It all went down to the ground below. Marco looked back, and thought that was gross. Then he looked at his watch it was seven. Ponch came back over, and they both set the package down on the table. Nothing happened.

"That doesn't seem good," Marco thought aloud. But then a man appeared from out of the package.

"How did you get in there?" Marco asked.

"That man at the mall put me in here," he replied.

"So, all we had to do was just take you here and you'd be free? Why'd Ponch get sick then?" Marco asked.

"In order for me to live for as long as I did in that box. I needed some good health. I was sick before I was put in the box. So the man stole Ponch's good health and gave it to me. Now I am all healthy, and fine. Sorry about Ponch, I don't know when he will be well," the man said.

"This isn't right," Marco said.

 _Meanwhile…._

Marco woke up in his bed in the fire station.

"How'd I get here?" he wondered. Then he saw Ponch come over. He cheerfully pulled Marco up out of bed.

"Come on, Cap wants to play basketball with us," Ponch said.

"Ponch? How'd we get here. I thought we were in Iowa," Marco said.

"Oh silly, that was last year when we went there," Ponch said with a smile. Marco then remembered, it really was last year when he and Ponch went to Iowa. There was no package though. Ponch just got really sick one day and they had to come home earlier than planned. Marco was happy to know Ponch was alright. He followed Ponch outside, to go play basketball.


End file.
